Three Effective Leadership Styles Everyone takes charge differently. What works for one person may not work the same for another, and that’s okay. Leadership is constantly evolving and changing as people put forth the effort to better themselves, and with trial comes a lot of error. Some styles have rarely been effective, while others work as a whole more often than not. Three leadership styles, in particular, have proven to be effective and reliable overall.
Democratic Leadership Democratic leadership works exactly how it sounds like it does: decisions for the team or company are made based on the thoughts and advice of everyone within the organization. Though the leader makes the final decision on what everyone will be doing, it’s the fact that everyone’s voices are heard that makes this such an effective leadership strategy. It also allows lower-level employees to experience the authority they may have as a higher-level employee. An example of how democratic leadership works would be a board meeting. The leader of the meeting may come with a few different options to solve a problem or market a product, and everyone present at that meeting can mull over each option’s pros and cons. Then, the leader can either decide based on the discussion or put the final decision up for a vote among those present.
Strategic Leadership Another common and effective type of leadership is strategic leadership. Those in this type of leadership position are firmly in the middle between the growth opportunities of a company and its primary operations. As a strategic leader, you show that you can handle multiple types of employees while retaining a stable environment for them to work in, all while keeping the best interests of the company in mind. The downside to this is that strategic leaders can possibly take on more than they can realistically handle, and the needs of the company can fall to the wayside in favor of meeting the demands of everyone else.
Coach-Style Leadership Our final leadership type is the coach-style leader, which works exactly how it sounds it does. Like the coach of a sports team, these leaders work with employees on an individual basis rather than a group as a whole. They focus on each employee’s strengths and nurture that until they reach their full potential, they will be the most successful in their job. Coach-style leaders often end up with wildly diverse teams of people instead of a team with the same skill set among its members, all of whom are encouraged to work together and learn from one another while they get the job done.
How to Plan Strategically Strategic planning is crucial toward the proper development of a company or a project, but it’s not always clear where to start your planning. Having the big picture is one thing, but having a framework to build upon will help you start to bang out the details and set you on a forward-looking path toward your goals and achievements. Before you start planning, use ​these six steps​ as building blocks.
Find your target This is the scope of your big picture. For a company, this will be encompassed by your mission statement; for a project, this can be relayed through an elevator pitch. In either case, your target is essentially the vision you have for what lies ahead of you, and having this clearly written out will not only start you on the right path toward success but also inspire those working with you to achieve that same vision.
Align your focus After you have your vision in place, shift yourself toward focusing on the right priorities. What do you hope to accomplish with this company or project? Do you have secondary focuses that will support your main objective? Answering these questions will ensure that you stay on the path you set out when you first started.
Assess the state of your situation Take the past, present, and future actions of your company or project into consideration when thinking about your next steps forward. Did something not work for you before? Are you doing something presently to compensate for that failure? The answer to these questions may require you to readjust your future plans to fit with the reality of your goals, rather than your past hypotheticals.
Map out your objectives
The prior three steps are the keystones to mapping out the path to your goal. Once you’ve got those three squared away, you can use your analysis and write out both your priorities and support initiatives. This will show key stakeholders the who, what, where, when, why, and how of your objective, as well as hold you accountable if those aren’t reached.
Execute your roadmap Once your map is written out, you can finally share it with key stakeholders and team members. You’ll be able to lay out your plan of action to everyone in detailed steps that will need to be taken during this phase.
Monitor your actions Having a plan of action doesn’t mean you’re done working on it. Once it’s in motion, monitor how well you’re doing and adjust when necessary. This will let you share any progress made toward your initial targets and objectives and keep an open line of communication.
Why Investing in Leadership Development is Important For some people, leadership comes to them as naturally as breathing does. The ability to take charge and find new ways to push a company forward in their industry is essential in success, especially if you’re in a management position. Investing in leadership development programs, therefore, provide a critical advantage for being the front runner in your respective industry, as it will help bring out the best in more reserved employees and refine the talents of those who already use their leadership skills. Why else would you invest in leadership development programs?
Financial Performance Companies who invest in leadership development will ultimately find a reduction in costs, new lines of revenue, and end with a higher customer satisfaction rate than those who don’t invest. Those who invest in human capital will receive five times the amount of stock market returns than those who don’t. This proves that this sort of investment will show a company’s ability to outperform its competitors.
Retain Talent An investment in leadership development is an investment in employee engagement. By having great leaders within your company, you’ll attract great employees, meaning that those who apply to work for your company are more likely to have a higher performance than others. This also leads to a lower turnover rate. Additionally, promoting talented people internally will save you the money it would take to rehire and retrain a new employee.
Strategy Execution Leadership development is more than seminars or training to improve skills. Effective leadership development will connect employees with the business strategy and implement it successfully. With this, you can “shape the culture and strategy of business.”
Navigating Change Finally, having strong leadership development will make it easier for employees to respond to unanticipated change swiftly. With enhanced leadership skills, people from the lowest level of employment to the highest have quicker agility in unpredictable work environments than those who don’t have the training. The Center for Creative Leadership found that 86% of companies with leadership development programs responded quickly to these sorts of environments, while only 52% of companies without these programs responded in kind.
How to Identify Bad Leadership While it’s important to identify and encourage good leadership, it’s equally important to identify bad leadership. How well a leader does can make or break your organization because a failed leader is a failed organization. These are the people who are meant to steer the metaphorical ship to success, and if they can’t do that, then your goal will never be reached, leaving you to either stagnate or sink entirely. Luckily, there are signs that hint at whether or not someone is the right person for a leadership position. Keeping an eye out for them could help you prevent disaster before it begins.
They fail to communicate. This is a big one. Communication is key if you want to run anything effectively, and those who don’t communicate their thoughts and ideas with others are doomed to do poorly in their position. An open line of communication will help make sure everyone is on the same page as one another, which will let ideas flow more fluidly across multiple mediums. Proper communication also includes actively listening to others when they’re speaking, so knowing when to speak up and when to let others be heard is a must.
Things have to be done their way or not at all. Taking all the credit for something good and placing all the blame on your team members is a huge negative. The goal is to be someone that your team members will look up to, trust, have confidence in, and be loyal to, and saddling them with the negative criticism or false faults is not a way to build all of that. Letting ego or pride get in the way of leading your team is also something that shouldn’t be done. Rather, leaders are the people who will take the blame instead of pushing it off to someone else, and give credit where credit is due.
They don’t pay attention to the consumer. If you don’t pay attention to your consumer base, your organization will ultimately fail. Successful leaders focus on obtaining and retaining customers through excellent customer service and experience, which in turn can lead to a loyal, satisfied customer. The best leaders
keep their consumer base in mind while innovating and planning for the future of their organization, while unsuccessful leaders ignore or mistreat their customers instead.
International Business vs. Domestic Business For those who either aren’t in the field of business or are just starting, knowing the differences between international and domestic business might not be something they fully understand. As international is self-explanatory, the conclusion that domestic is its opposite isn’t that far of a stretch. There are more differences between international and domestic business than simply where the business transactions are conducted; there are some key differences that shape the two business models into what they are.
What is it? To keep it simple: domestic business is a business that operates economically within the boundaries of the country it resides in, while international businesses have economic transactions across multiple countries across the world. In other words, domestic business takes place within one nation, and international business takes place across multiple ones. Domestic business is also known as internal business or home trade.
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While international businesses provide products and services that are of a high quality due to set global standards, domestic businesses tend to have a lower quality. Domestic businesses only deal in the currency for the country they’re based out of. International businesses deal across multiple different countries, so they take multiple kinds of currencies when selling their products and services. The scope of their consumer market means that domestic businesses require less capital investment than international businesses do. There are few restrictions that domestic businesses face when conducting business, as they must follow the rules, laws, and taxes set by the country they’re based out of. International businesses have far more restrictions since they operate out of several different countries, which can create a barrier as a result. The nature of how business is conducted is different as well. Since domestic businesses remain in one country, their nature stays relatively the same. On the other hand, international businesses deal with customers in many different countries and have to adjust their business model accordingly. Like with restrictions, business research is relatively easy for domestic businesses due to the nature of where they operate. International businesses once again face barriers due to their own nature.
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The mobility factors of domestic businesses are free, while international businesses are restricted in their mobility.
Each type of business has its advantages and disadvantages, but international business proves to have far more obstacles to overcome than domestic businesses do. If you plan to go into international business, keep these factors in mind, and plan accordingly.
Three Careers in International Business Since the global market is becoming larger with each passing year, getting a degree in global studies or international relations opens up a vast array of job opportunities in the field of international business. From small companies to extremely well-known ones, people who actively participate in the global market seek out those who understand not only the different cultures of the countries they have deals with but also those who know how to work the market from an economic standpoint. If international business is the industry you want to work in, here are three in-demand careers for you to consider.
Financial Analyst As a financial analyst, your goal will be to produce reports, guide investment activities, and develop strategic planning to support the organization’s financial goals. With a global studies or an international relations degree under your belt, you’ll show hiring companies that you’ll understand the regions they’re dealing with—their language, culture, environment, and politics. Some tasks you may do include: ● ● ● ● ●
Understanding how currency, diplomacy, and stock affect the bottom line of the company you work for Recommending foreign investments and portfolios Studying the economic and business patterns of different regions Analyzing the company’s financial records across international divisions Evaluating how the company’s financial decisions will affect or harm company performance
Human Resources Manager You’ll be in charge of hiring and recruiting employees, discussing the company’s objectives with its executives, and being a liaison between management and employees as an HR Manager. At an international level, you’ll have more diversity within your company and more legal restrictions to consider, as well as incorporate training and professional development at a global level. Some tasks you may do include: ●
Align upper management with its employees to support development and culture
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Coordinate and direct employee benefits programs across regions Work with managers on HR issues to align with national laws Ensuring a collaborative company culture
Policy Analyst Policy analysts work closely with political issues that companies may run into when working internationally, from homeland security to environmental policies. You’ll research a region’s politics, government, legal system, and so on to form the public policy for the company. You’re likely to focus on international trade, global business policies, national defense, international economics, and foreign law. Some tasks you may do are: ● ● ●
Evaluate the outcomes of proposed regulations, legislation, and resources globally Monitor international events and policy decisions Identify worldwide trends, policies, and strategies
How Charities Work Charities can be found all over the world. They’re something that’s always in the background being heard about, from the question to donate while you’re out grocery shopping to emotion-provoking animal commercials that come on TV, asking viewers to donate and help the animals they sadly show on the screen. While everyone knows what a charity organization is, not everyone may understand what exactly it is they do other than collect money and other items. So how, exactly, do charities work?
Donation This one is a bit obvious, but it’s still important to know what items a shop might take and what they will not. General items that’ll be accepted are books, clothing, games, music, cookware, shoes, toys, and so on. Larger items, such as furniture, are accepted at the discretion of the charity itself. While broken items won’t generally be accepted, clothing with holes in them are still suitable to donate; those are sold to textile recycling companies to be reused elsewhere. For more unusual items, this would be a good place to start searching for where to donate it.
Volunteering About 200,000 people volunteer at charities every year. Besides giving you the satisfaction of helping others, volunteering with a charity can help you build connections with those in your community and learn new skills that you otherwise may not have discovered. Volunteer experience can lead to a paid job down the road, and some charities like Crisis hire homeless people to help them along.
Recycling Charities are all about giving a second chance to used items, which is super important to helping the environment. Charities prevented about 370,000 tons of clothing from ending up in a landfill back in 2015, putting them to use elsewhere instead (such as sending them to textile recycling companies like previously mentioned).
Fundraising and Community In the United Kingdom, charities raise around £300m a year for various causes. They also take items and sell them in their shops at a lower price than usual, which in turn helps people with lower incomes. With lower rates, they’re able to afford more without straining their budget.
Nonprofits That Are Helping Fight COVID-19 Now more than ever, it’s important for everyone to do their part to help others as COVID-19, more commonly known as the coronavirus, spreads and affects the global population. For some people, that means putting themselves on the front lines as healthcare workers. For others, it’s going to their essential jobs despite the risks. Less heard about, though still very present, are the nonprofits that are contributing to COVID-19 relief. These organizations have gotten resources for the front line workers, donated supplies or proceeds to those who need it, or prioritized customers who are more at risk of catching the virus than others. While these organizations don’t do their good deeds for attention, their actions should still be recognized for the help they provide in an otherwise bleak present.
Feeding America: This organization has a COVID-19 Response Fund to ensure that food banks across the country have enough to feed those in need. This is especially important as unemployment continues to rise, currently bringing the USA to a staggering 38.6 million people who have filed for unemployment.
Doctors Without Borders: The aid coming from Doctors Without Borders is in the form of helping hands as doctors travel to the countries who’ve been hit the hardest by COVID-19, as well as “strengthening the infection controls in its already established programs”. Doctors Without Borders plan to maintain help in the over 70 countries it already assists as well.
The World Health Organization: The WHO is particularly valuable in coordinating relief efforts across the world. Through its coordination, the organization is working to respond to already existing cases of COVID-19 while doing what it can to prevent the spread from going any further.
Team Rubicon: This group is a veteran-based company that assists in times of natural disasters or emergencies. In the face of COVID-19, Team Rubicon has “assembled teams across the country to help with logistics, packaging, and distributing food”. In Wisconsin, they’re even offering assistance with the 211 Wisconsin hotline for nonprofit and government services. If you’d like to assist with these organizations or any others, make a donation or offer to help volunteer if an organization needs the extra help. If everyone does their part to help amid this pandemic, not only will it help those most vulnerable now, but it will also help the world get back to normal sooner rather than later.